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Allen Ruppersberg
Since its founding in 1970, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive has been committed to the collection and exhibition of work by Conceptual artists from the Bay Area and beyond. Recent exhibitions include retrospectives of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Paul Kos, Fred Wilson, and Ant Farm; the museum holds the archives of Cha, Ant Farm, and Jim Pomeroy. Building on this foundation, BAM/PFA recently acquired two significant works by Los Angeles– and New York–based Conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg, who began his career in the radical environment of 1960s Los Angeles. Ruppersberg's work explores cultural narratives and mythologies using very ordinary materials such as postcards, books, and magazines, often to humorous effect. In The Singing Posters: Allen Ginsberg's Howl by Allen Ruppersberg (Part I), Ruppersberg plasters a room with brightly colored posters of Ginsberg's famous poem, written out both normally and phonetically so that "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness" becomes "Y SAW thuh BEST MYNDS uhv my je-nuh-RAY-shin di-STOYED BY Mad-nis." The Singing Posters is both an homage to the celebrated Beat poet and a tongue-in-cheek attempt to make "Howl" accessible to future generations.
Dara Solomon
Curatorial Assistant
